Best Served Cold
by godblessthefandom
Summary: Brittana and the Troubletones are finally getting back to normal after Santana gets outed by Finn. But there are repercussions that even they don't see coming. (Canon-ish) Set sometime during Season 3.


_Written for the Brittana Prompt Project_

* * *

Mercedes sat in Mrs. Lewis' AP history class, trying to pay attention, but it wasn't really working. She sat next to Santana who kept making jokes about how Mrs. Lewis' ass looked like Play Doh ever since she had the baby. As Mrs. Lewis backed a desk out of the way to make way for a projector, Santana made a truck reversing noise, and then sat back with a satisfied look on her face as the class broke into laughter.

Mercedes rolled her eyes and smacked her friend lightly.

"You're just mad that she's got all that swagger, and can shake her booty. Jealous, Tana?"

Santana rolled her eyes even harder, but a smile found it's way to her lips. Ever since Mercedes, Santana and Brittany had joined the Troubletones, they had been closer than ever. Mercedes finally found herself at ease with Santana. She had spent most of her high school career worried she'd get cornered in the bathroom, or roasted when she walked by in the cafeteria. She probably could have hated Santana, but now, after getting to know her, she realized that she probably spent more time tearing herself down more than she spent tearing other people down. That was a level of self hatred that Mercedes couldn't even imagine.

Now, they shared a couple of classes, and even saw each other in glee club, and Mercedes had to say she liked her. Granted, she was probably still too mean for her own good, but Mercedes only had to make a few choice comments, and Santana would cool it with the insults. She wasn't as good at getting her to be nice as Brittany was, though. All the blonde had to do was say 'Stop the Violence', in that sing song-y voice of hers, and Santana would melt like a stick of butter on a car's dashboard in the middle of summer. But Mercedes was feeling more optimistic of their relationship every day.

"You wish, Wheezy. Why would I be jealous of all that, when I have all this."

She gestured to her butt, prominently on display in her super tight Cheerios uniform.

"Please, girl. " Mercedes laughed. "I looked better in my Cheerios outfit that you ever do in yours."

Santana laughed again.

Thankfully, at that moment, the bell rang, and Mercedes waited for Santana to gather her books, and led her out of the classroom. It was time for lunch, and they'd normally meet their Troubletones group members in the cafeteria, but today Mercedes was going for something different.

"Hey Santana, how about we scoop up Britt and Sugar, and head out to Breadstix for lunch? They have an all you can eat, never ending pasta bowl special."

Santana seemed to consider it. "I dunno, Cedes. Coach will kill us if we fill up on carbs before practice."

"Well, you and Britt can have some lemon water or something, while you watch me and Sugar tear up some pasta." Mercedes said, laughingly.

Mercedes didn't get to hear her response because suddenly, Sam came barrelling towards them. He stopped, gasping for breath, and pointed back to the way he'd come.

"S-santana. H-hurry."

Santana gave Sam a long look, and then looked towards Mercedes.

"Cedes, why don't you translate for your boyfriend. I don't speak carp."

Mercedes was so concerned about Sam, she didn't even bother to rebut the 'boyfriend' comment. He was still panting hard, and his face was red. She put her arm on his shoulder, rubbing softly.

"Sam, what's wrong? Breathe, hon, breathe."

He nodded, looking up, and taking a few deep breaths.

"Santana… Brittany… She was with Sugar, and they…. Well, they…"

* * *

Mercedes whipped around to look at Santana. She could already see the fury behind her eyes. She wasn't sure what had happened to Brittany, but everyone knew that if you messed with Brittany, Santana would come for you. She had never done anything to incur that kind of wrath, and she didn't want to see what would happen. She turned back to Sam to try to get more information, but Santana was already pushing past him and rushing down the hall.

Mercedes grabbed Sam's arm, and dragged him after her.

\

Sugar loved hanging out with Brittany. Like Sugar, Brittany always said whatever she wanted. Though, usually Brittany's outbursts were nicer than Sugar's (Aspergers!), but they were kind of cut from the same cloth. She loved being in the Troubletones with all the ladies from the glee club, too. Ever since she begged her dad to get her transferred to McKinley High, defected from the New Directions, and helped start the Troubletones, she felt like she fit in more than ever. It didn't hurt that she had plenty of cash to throw around, just in case.

Sugar had bribed their Geography teacher $50 bucks to let her and Brittany out a little early. They had been wandering around the halls, peeking into classrooms, and waving to the friends they could see through the windows. They heard the hockey jocks before they saw them. They were arguing about something in the hallway, shoving each other around, and generally being a nuisance.

Sugar scoffed. She hated those hockey guys. They weren't cool enough to play football or basketball, but still wanted to feel important. They acted like they were, but Sugar knew the truth. Even the glee kids were higher up on the food chain than those nerds.

The boys stopped roughhousing, and turned their attention to the girls.

"Hey ladies, what are you doing roaming around the halls? It's not safe for a pretty lady all alone."

Sugar rolled her eyes, and made to go around the group, but Brittany stopped behind her. The blonde clutched her books to her chest, but looked more curious than bothered, her head tilted to the side.

"Not safe?" Brittany breathed.

"Oh yeah." Rick Nelson walked forward and ran his finger along the top of her notebook. "There are all kinds of bad guys who might take advantage of a pair of innocent girls like the two of you."

"Come on, Britt. Let's get out of here." Sugar tugged on the sleeve of Britt's Cheerio's uniform, but the blonde didn't budge.

"So, what should we do?" Brittany had that wistful note in her voice, and Sugar huffed loudly.

Rick leaned onto a locker, invading Brittany's personal space, and lowered his voice a bit.

"You should find someone who can take care of you. Someone who can look after you. Someone who can care of all these bad guys who like to roam around. Someone who's man enough for you."

His voice lowered to a whisper, and he leaned in slowly and looked to be making a move to kiss Brittany. Sugar almost intervened, but Brittany side-stepped the jock, and spun on her heel, pushing away from the locker. Rick, unbalanced by the motion, leaned too far and found himself splayed out, on the floor, in front of all his friends.

"Then, I guess I should go find Santana."

On that note, Brittany looped her arm through Sugar's, and skipped away.

The other hockey players were caught between laughing behind their hands, and trying to avoid looking directly at their fallen captain, who was now cursing and getting quickly to his feet, brushing off the helping hands.

Sugar didn't bother hiding her grin, and when she turned, she saw her friend beaming beside her.

\

Less than half an hour later, and it was only a few minutes before the lunch bell rang. After leaving the hockey losers scrambling in the hallway, Sugar and Brittany had roamed around a bit more, and finally decided to head to Mercedes and Santana's History class, so they could meet up for lunch.

Sugar really liked Brittany, but she absolutely adored Santana. She was smart, had a razor sharp wit, and was actually really hot. Sugar wished she could be as quick with the comebacks as Santana was. She ran to Troubletones practice every day just so she could sit at the piano and listen to Santana crack jokes about Finn, Principal Figgins, Coach Sue, and anyone else who got on her nerves that day. It didn't hurt that she and Britt were the hottest/cutest couple in the whole school. No matter how much those nerds in the sewing circle try to push Tike.

As they rounded the corner, Sugar barely saw the flash of hockey jersey before Brittany shot her hand out in front and was pushing her out of the way.

Rick Nelson's hand was still extended towards Brittany as Sugar's mouth dropped open. The empty Big Gulp cup, still slopping slushie onto the floor. He was alone, but seemed to be very proud of himself.

The whole hallway seemed to pause, with everyone turning to look. There was a collective gasp and all conversations stopped.

"You should have taken my advice, Pierce." With that he dropped the cup at Brittany's feet, and stalked away.

Brittany wiped the slushie out of her eyes, and sighed deeply. Sugar jogged forward and started trying to help Brittany clean up, taking her books, and leading her towards the nearby bathroom.

Sugar knew about the struggles the glee club had faced (and even still faced) when they'd gotten started. She knew that every single member of the glee club had found themselves with a slushie facial at one time or another. Every single one of them, except for Brittany. Most people thought it was because Brittany was too sweet, and too popular to find herself with a face full of slushie, but Sugar knew the truth. Even before Santana was out, and even before she was dating Brittany, and probably even before she had known the truth about her own sexuality, she had always protected the blonde. Sugar had heard stories from Mercedes about how in eighth grade, one of the girls in the JV Cheerio's squad had made fun of Brittany's love of unicorns, and found out a week later that her dad had been transferred to Siberia, and she'd have to finish out her school year under 7 feet of snow. Another time, a boy, on a dare, had cut off a lock of her hair, and presented it around the school like a trophy. The next time he showed up at school completely hairless. His head shaved, and even his eyebrows gone. Rumor had it that he was hairless everywhere, not just his head.

Nobody messed with Brittany because if you messed with Brittany, you messed with Santana. And nobody messed with Santana.

\

Mercedes rushed after Santana, with Sam barely keeping up. She couldn't see her friend's eyes, but she knew that they dark clouds were already gathering there.

Santana skidded to a stop, with Mercedes and Sam almost crashing into the back of her.

"Santana…" Mercedes words were caught in her throat as she followed Santana's eyes.

"Oh my god." She looked down and saw the cup from 7-11, and the telltale remains of slushie littering the hallway.

"Where is she?"

The sound that emanated from Santana was more of a growl than actual words. But if anything, Mercedes was more worried by how calm the other girl sounded. She definitely expected more yelling at this point.

A cowering freshman pointed to the nearby girl's bathroom, and Santana stalked through the door. Mercedes followed, pulling Sam in behind her, despite his protestations.

Sugar stood with Brittany at the sink, using paper towels to clean the red liquid out of her hair. Mercedes was surprised that Brittany was so upbeat. She seemed to be licking her fingers like she enjoyed the flavor.

Santana crossed the bathroom, and put her hands on Brittany's shoulders.

"Britt, are you okay?"

Brittany nodded, her eyes bright, "Santana, it's cherry!"

Santana nodded softly, and placed a gentle kiss on Brittany's cheek.

"Who did this?"

Sugar excitedly ran to Santana's side.

"It was Rick Nelson. You know, Rick 'The Stick'?"

Santana's eye's narrowed and she took the paper towels from Sugar's hands, and began to continue cleaning Brittany's hair. She didn't stop looking at her girlfriend, but directed her next comment towards Sugar.

"Sugar, go to the Cheerio's locker room, and tell Lucy, the girl with the weird spray tan, that this is a code Brittany. She'll know what it means."

Sugar nodded, and rushed out of the room.

"Mercedes, you can come over here and help me get Brittany out of these wet clothes."

Mercedes didn't hesitate as she walked over to Brittany.

"Sorry this happened, Britt."

Brittany's eyes didn't fade as she turned to Mercedes. "It's okay, Cedes. Cherry is my favorite. You can ask Santana."

Santana nodded. "It's her favorite."

Mercedes was confused. Santana's voice had none of the fire that it normally had, and she seemed to be mechanically rubbing the paper towels over Brittany's uniform.

"And Sam, unless you want a black eye, I'd take off now if I were you." Santana eyes again never left Brittany, but it was all the warning Sam needed.

"Catch you later, Britt. Sorry, you know, about everything." He tossed over his shoulder as he bolted out the door.

Mercedes and Santana worked in silence, as Brittany hummed happily, and would sometimes pause to kiss the tip of Santana's nose. They did the best that they could, until Sugar bounced in with a duffel bag with a spare Cheerio's uniform that Brittany quickly changed into.

Mercedes was still nervous. Santana wasn't saying much and was being really attentive to Brittany. From what she knew about Santana, she should be bouncing off the walls by now. She should be cursing in Spanish and having to have a whole room to hold her back. Mercedes had seen it plenty of times. But this Santana was even scarier. She quietly tended to Brittany, brushing her hair back into a tight ponytail, and murmuring gently to her questions about if her skirt was hanging properly, or adjusting the straps on her bra, to make sure it wasn't too tight.

For her part, Brittany still seemed to be in a good mood. Mercedes remembered the first time she'd been slushied. The bullies mostly left her alone, but apparently she'd been keeping the 'wrong' company. It was days before things stopped smelling like blueberry, and another couple of days after that that her eyebrows returned to their natural color. But there was something about the chill. That feeling of the ice sliding down her shirt collar and into her pants. That feeling took weeks to go away. It was designed to intimidate, and to demoralize, and it worked. She still flinched every time they drove past a convenience store. She'd hate for that kind of thing to happen to Brittany, but judging from the other girl's attitude, she'd already forgotten it happened. Hopefully Santana felt the same way.

\

The lunch period was almost over, and next was choir, which was basically just Troubletones practice. Mercedes and Sugar led the way, with Brittany and Santana linking elbows behind them. When they arrived to Shelby sitting behind the piano, and the other Troubletones warming up behind her.

"Brittany got slushied!" Sugar blurted, as soon as they entered the room. "It was Rick the Stick."

Everyone stopped, and stared. Even Shelby understood what it meant. She stood up and went pat Brittany on the arm, all the while keeping a cautious eye on Santana.

"Brittany, are you okay?"

Brittany nodded, bouncing over to the piano. "I was thinking we could do another Britney song this week."

Shelby nodded, barely listening. Her eyes were still on Santana who had followed a step behind Brittany, but who was now absently scrolling through her phone.

"And Santana?"

Brittany looked over at Santana, and back at Shelby. "She's fine, why wouldn't she be?"

Shelby only nodded and turned back to the piano. She wasn't sure how Brittany was taking things so well, but she was worried about Santana. She didn't know how long it would take for her to explode, but once she did, there would be hell to pay. Shelby had seen the damage Santana had done to the New Directions, before Hudson had hit below the belt, exposing her before she was ready, and leaving her more vulnerable than ever. She didn't want another dodgeball incident on her watch, not involving the Troubletones, not if she could have anything to do about it.

"Santana." Her voice was firm, and Santana tore her eyes away from the phone, barely the trace of a scowl on her face, because of the interruption.

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

Santana raised her eyebrow as if Shelby had been speaking Dutch.

"Why wouldn't I be? Brittany's the one who got hit in the face with that stupid ice thing."

Shelby paused, giving Santana a strange look. She then nodded and called the other girls to attention. She wasn't sure what Santana was playing at, but as long as she didn't have to hold the girl down, practice could continue.

\

The next day Brittany sat in Geometry. It was the only class that all four Troubletones had together. Brittany and Santana sat in front of Mercedes and Sugar, but she didn't bother paying attention. Santana would take all the notes they'd need, and then they have time for some practice of their own later. Sometimes the prize when Brittany got the answer right was an M&M, sometimes it was a kiss. When she got it wrong, Santana would give her a stern look, and she'd get a tingle that she loved. If she pushed Santana at that point, they could get another kind of practice on. She loved numbers, but hated the class. But something about studying Geometry with Santana made it all worth it.

The bell rang, and Brittany grabbed Santana's bookbag as the other girl gathered her notebook, and went to talk to the teacher. Everyone else went outside to the hallway to wait on Santana. Sugar nudged Brittany.

"Hey. How are you?"

Brittany was getting sick of that question. She had gotten slushied, not stabbed. And, anyway, she wasn't worried. She told Sugar as much.

"But what about Santana?" Sugar's eyes were big and round.

Brittany was about to answer, but a group of students walked by talking loudly. When they saw Brittany, they quieted down.

"What?" Said Mercedes, cocking her head, and gave them her fiercest side eye.

Brittany grinned. She had always had Santana, and for a lot of time Quinn. They looked out for her. But ever since she'd joined the New Directions, and then the Troubletones, she felt like she had more close friends than ever. She knew that she could trust Mercedes and Sugar to look out for her as much as she looked out for them. They were like family.

One of the students who looked nervous under the scrutiny of Mercedes glare, cleared his throat.

"It's Rick."

"What?" Sugar squeaked.

"Rick didn't show up to school today. And the word is that yesterday, her girlfriend," he nodded to Brittany, "was trying to figure out who was involved in the, um, slushie incident. The other hockey players bailed, and blamed it all on Rick, and now, he's not here. Nobody's heard from him, not even the hockey coach."

"Beat it."

The Troubletones turned, and gaped at Santana who was leaning on the classroom doorjam. No one moved for a moment until Santana spoke up again.

"I said beat it." She motioned with her thumb in the other direction.

It was all the motivation that the kids needed. They hurried off down the hall without another word. The four girls walked down the hall in silence. Santana reached for her book bag but Brittany just shook her off. She liked doing things for Santana, even when they were small or seemed silly. They made her feel like a proper girlfriend. Santana shrugged, and walked up, joining Mercedes who was walking ahead of her and Sugar.

Sugar nudged her. "What do you think she did to him?"

Brittany blinked a few times. "What? Who?"

"Rick! What do you think she did to Rick? Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

Brittany hadn't really thought about it. Yeah, she was annoyed by what Rick had done, but she hoped that Santana hadn't noticed. Honestly she was glad it had happened. Every person in the glee club had been slushied, and now she really felt like one of the group. It's like they had a secret club that she had finally been able to join.

"Santana? I don't think anything. He's probably just sick or something. Or maybe someone finally got suspended for bullying other kids."

Sugar rolled her eyes. "Like that would actually happen. It seems like the only people who get in trouble in this school are us when we hit back at the bullies."

Brittany nodded. She hadn't really thought anything about Rick being out. She knew that Santana could be protective, and she had been a bit subdued the day before, but they had spent the evening together at Brittany's house watching TV, and Santana had only mentioned the entire situation once, suggesting that there were better uses of Slushies rather than just throwing them at people. Brittany had laughed softly and snuggled more into Santana's shoulder. Now, walking behind Santana, she wondered if there was something she had missed. Santana was usually so easy for her to read, but sometimes she messed up. Saw things that weren't there or missed things that were. Was she making that kind of mistake now?

It was near the end of the day, and they only had Cheerios practice before they could head home. They said goodbye to Mercedes and Sugar in the hall, and walked towards the practice field. Before they even hit the door, Brittany could hear Coach Sue's voice over her bullhorn.

"All right, ladies. I've see my grandma move faster around a track. Granted, she was being chased by a rabid raccoon, but my point still stands. Move it!"

Before they could get out of the door Brittany grabbed Santana's arm, and gently shoved her into a nearby storage closet. Checking around for witnesses, and seeing none, she quickly followed her in, and shut the door. A click of a wall switch revealed a small room with a few mops and buckets in the corner. It was a room that the two girls had found themselves in on other occasions, usually with a naughtier purpose. Brittany brought Santana around, and pushed her up against the door, bringing her body flush up against hers.

Santana, being caught off guard, but always in the mood, wrapped her arms around Brittany's waist and pulled her a little closer. Her breath hitched as she felt Brittany's lips ghosting her neck. She raised her head to give Brittany more room, and moaned gently.

Brittany's hands were moving up and down the sides of her Cheerios uniform, and Santana gasped as Brittany's fingers toyed with the band of her skirt.

"San?"

Santana moaned deeply in response.

Brittany knew she was losing focus so she brought her hand up and grasped Santana's chin.

"San."

This was more of a statement and it caught the other girl's attention.

"Yeah, babe?" Santana whined.

"I need to ask you a question, and I need you to be honest."

Santana stopped arching under Brittany's hand. Her brows knitted and her eyes darkened.

"Oookay."

She slid away from Brittany, straightening her uniform, and failed to meet Brittany's eye.

"Santana, what happened yesterday? Did you go after the hockey guys?"

Santana dug her shoe into the floor, and clasped her hands behind her back. Brittany didn't know what to do. She wouldn't have wanted Santana to do something to Rick, but she was just so cute, she couldn't be angry with her.

"Britt, what do you care? They messed with you yesterday. I might not be the head bitch in charge anymore, but everyone knows not to screw with you. If they screw with you..."

The answer was more than Brittany needed to know. She'd ask Santana not to lie to her, and Santana wouldn't. But to keep from really answering the question she had directed the conversation back onto Brittany. That meant that she had the hockey players in her crosshairs.

"Santana, I love you, you know that, right?"

Santana nodded quickly.

"And I know you love me too, and I know you'd do anything for me. Just like I'd do anything for you. That's kind of a given."

She nodded again.

"But what happened yesterday..." She paused and searched for the right words. "I just want to leave it alone, ok?"

Santana made to argue, but Brittany interrupted her.

"Because it won't stop. They'll come back for us, we'll go back for them? I just want it to be over."

Santana didn't respond, but continued to not look directly at Brittany.

"So, whatever you're doing, or have done, can it just be over?"

"Hmmm." was all Santana followed up with. She ignored Brittany's confused expression, and pulling her girlfriend's hand, led her out of the closet and down to the practice field. Brittany only sighed and followed along.

\

The next day, Brittany stood at her locker fiddling with the combination. Santana had gone home the night before, without even asking Brittany if she wanted to come over. Granted, her parents had started putting restrictions on when they could hang out since they decided that they were dating, but she still could have asked her parents, and if that didn't work out, she could have gone to the Lopezes. But Santana had mumbled something about being busy and with barely a wave goodbye had sped out of the driveway. Brittany had received a text an hour or so later.

 _Sorry, B, I had some pressing matters to deal with._

Brittany frowned and typed out her reply.

 _More important than hanging out with your girlfriend?_

 _Never. That's why I'm taking you out to dinner tomorrow night._

Brittany did a happy dance.

 _Breadstix?_

 _No, Britt, something fancy._

Brittany frowned. She liked going to Breadstix, but had said goodnight to Santana and gone to bed.

Now she stood distracted and a little angry. Not only had Santana bailed on her the night before, but she didn't come up to pick her up that morning, sending only a cryptic message at about 6:30, suggesting that Brittany ride the bus or tag along with some of their friends to school. She said she had something to take care of that morning, but promised that she would give her a ride home. Luckily, Brittany was able to snag a ride with one of her fellow Cheerios who lived nearby, but it was a close call, and Brittany really didn't like being left in the lurch. She thought about her conversation with Santana yesterday in the storage closet. She hoped that Santana wouldn't do anything to Rick. Not that she liked the guy, he was a creep. He'd tried to kiss her, for Pete's sake. But, Brittany could take care of herself, and didn't want Santana to think that she had to be standing up for her all the time.

Suddenly, her thoughts were broken by Mercedes leaning against her locker.

"Morning Britt."

"Hey, Mercedes."

"Why the long face? Itching for your daily dose of Santana Lopez?"

"Have you seen her, Cedes?"

"Not since this morning. I got here little early to do some vocal runs with Shelby, and I saw her coming in. Probably about 7:00."

"Really?" Now, Brittany was really confused, what would Santana be doing there so early?

Their attention was turned away from the conversation when they heard a bell ringing down the hall. It wasn't like the classroom bell, either, it was like a single bell, like one you might see in church, or from that hunchback movie that Brittany loved so much. And it sounded like it was getting closer.

Rick "The Stick" Nelson shuffled down the hallway, ringing a handbell. he looked terrible, like he'd been up all night after running a marathon. His hair was falling off in what looked to be icy chunks, and his lips were blue. He was wearing his hockey jersey, but Brittany could see it had burn marks in some places, and holes cut in others. He had the bell in one hand, and a bucket in the other. Brittany and Mercedes could do nothing but stare. He skulked through the hallway, ringing the bell at odd intervals, shouting "Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Gather round." He already had quite a crowd around him, and they were following closely, snickering and pointing to him. He finally got to where Mercedes and Brittany were standing, and stopped, turning around in one full circle. The girls jaws dropped when they saw the back of his pants, which had two perfectly round holes cut out so they were treated to a full view of his backside.

He stood there for a few seconds more, before handing the bell to Brittany, and raising up the bucket.

Brittany opened her mouth to ask what was happening when he raised his hand for silence.

"Brittany Susan Pierce. I have acted like an absolute cad, and not for the first time, my hubris has caused me to overstep my bounds."

He said the words like he was reading from a really terrible script. Turning to everyone, he lifted the bucket over his head.

"Let it be known that as punishment for this injustice, I will serve myself, in kind, one hundred fold!"

The crowd was tittering. Half didn't know what he was saying, and the other half were surprised that they'd heard the word 'hubris' come out of Rick's mouth. He usually spoke like Beavis, or Butthead, and if he ever said a word that was more than two syllables, they would have been surprised.

Mercedes put her arm on Brittany as the bucket came up, but Brittany was already reaching for the haggard looking boy.

"Rick…"

"The Lannisters send their regards." He said in a clear voice, before upending the bucket over his own head.

The crowd gasped as what was clearly about four gallons of cherry red slushy poured down over Rick's head, dripping past his ears, and down into his jersey. He shivered dramatically, then slowly backed up, and ran down the hallway in the direction opposite of Brittany.

"What in the hell…?" Mercedes murmured.

A few moments later, Sugar bounded up to them.

"I got it all on video. It'll be live on Youtube in 15. Trust. Nobody messes with the Troubletones and gets away with it!"

She pumped her fist.

Mercedes laughed, but Brittany frowned softly.

\

Brittany had been trying to get Santana to talk all day. First she'd been cornered right after first period and asked her what she'd done to Rick. She'd had tried to play innocent, but Brittany wasn't fooled. So, Santana just went the opposite route, which was deny, deny, deny. That had worked for all of 12 seconds, before Brittany had set into her again.

She finally pulled her girlfriend to the table to sit with Mercedes, Sugar, and some of the kids from the New Directions. Talk of what Rick had done had spread around the school like wildfire, and Santana was proud to note that not once had they mentioned her name in connection with it. Maybe they had their suspicions, and didn't want to say anything. Maybe, they actually didn't know. Either way, it worked in her favor. Nobody gave her a wary look, but they seemed pretty sure that it would be long after graduation before anyone messed with Brittany again. And, really, that was the whole point. If nobody messed with Brittany, then she didn't care if they wondered if she'd had anything to do with it at all.

The period after lunch was a bit harder. Santana and Brittany had class together, and besides Finn and Puck, they were the only two glee kids there. They didn't have a problem with Puck, though he was still a perv, but they weren't talking to Finn at all. Because of that, Brittany gave 100% of her attention to Santana, passing her notes all class that asked more and more questions about what she'd done to Rick. Santana was able to ignore them at first, but as the illustrations that Brittany doodled in the margins became more and more graphic, it was all she could do to keep from laughing, and she was worried she might get kicked out of class.

"Britt, please!" She whispered, opening another one of Brittany's notes.

"Not until you tell me what happened."

She patted her girlfriend's leg under the table.

"I promise we'll talk about it tonight, at our date."

"You promise, San?"

"I promise."

That seemed to satisfied her, and the notes took a decidedly more romantic turn. Santana was enjoying it, until Puck caught sight of one of them, and wouldn't stop waggling his eyebrows at Santana.

\

The restaurant Santana was taking Brittany to was one that she knew her parents would often go to to celebrate important milestones as a couple. When her mother made partner at her law firm, her dad had treated her to a night on the town. And the day her dad was announced as the new chief of medicine at Lima General, her parents had taken a limo here, and then another to a nearby hotel to while away the evening in fluffy robes.

The maitre d led them to their tables, and stood by while Brittany pulled out the chair for Santana, finally helping Brittany into her seat. After taking their drink orders ('Thank God for fake IDs') Santana took a few minutes looking at the menu. She didn't really need to think. She always got the pasta primevera at Breadstix, and she was just trying to figure out if this place at better pasta primavera. But, she was worried to meet Brittany's gaze. She lowered her menu down an inch, and wasn't surprised to catch blue eyes staring intently at her. She quickly raised the menu again, and then only brought it down when the waiter returned with their wine orders, and then pried the menu from her fingers.

Left alone to sip their wine, Santana began to talk to fill the silence. She noted the table cloths, curtains, and general ambiance of the place. She was on her third minute commenting on the cutlery when Brittany cleared her throat, crossed her arms, and leaned back in the chair.

"I know it was you, Santana."

Santana's eyebrow went up. "I don't know what you mean, Britt." She countered.

"Santana!" Her voice peaked. "You promised you wouldn't lie to me. I know it was you who did that to Rick."

Santana was trapped. She really didn't want to lie to Brittany, but she didn't want to disappoint her, either.

"And how do you know that?"

"He used that line."

"What line?" Santana knew what line.

"That cheesy line from those fantasy books you're always reading. About the chair made out of metal."

"It's called an Iron Throne, Britt."

"Whatever. Anyway, I remember that line from the book."

"How could you…?"

"Remember when I had the flu last year, and you'd sneak over every night and read to me until I fell asleep?"

Oh crap. "Yeah, Britt. I remember."

"You must have read almost that whole book. Skipping all the boring bits."

Santana had kind of forgotten about all that. Now that Brittany was saying it, she remembered, and remembered specifically getting to the scene with that line, and Brittany gasping, with her face pale and clammy.

"Britt-"

"No more lies, Santana."

Santana nodded, and reaching across the table, loosened Brittany's hand from where she was worrying it and brought it to the table. Still holding it, she looked deep into Brittany's eyes.

"No more lies, Brittany. You have my word."

The corners of Brittany's mouth curled, and the smile reached her eyes.

"Awesome."

"But, Britt, I can't tell you everything. Some of it might be, um, less than legal. You can ask me five questions."

Brittany looked skeptical, but nodded slowly, frowning in concentration.

"Okay, I guess that's fair. Question number one: Did you hurt him?"

Santana squeezed Brittany's hand and looked into her eyes,bright blue locked with deep brown.

"I swear, Britt Britt, I caused him no physical harm whatsoever."

Brittany searched her eyes, but seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Did you have anything to do with him missing school yesterday?"

Santana nodded. "Well, yeah, that might have been the less than legal part. But he never left school property, so I'm pretty sure it's okay."

"Did you threaten him?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, Britt, guys like that don't listen to polite inquries, you know? You've got to put the fear of god into them a little bit, but I swear I didn't hurt him."

"Why? Santana?"

Santana looked down. When she looked back up at Brittany, her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Ever since I came out..." She took a deep breath. "Ever since I was forced out, and you were too, things haven't been the same. People used to look at me with fear, and now they look at me with pity. I've never felt so powerless in my whole life. I've never felt more out of control. But the looks and stares, the pity, they don't matter. I'm used to it. But I'll be damned if I'll stand by and let people treat you any way they want."

"San-"

"Look, Britt, you're not violent, I get that. And I don't expect you to take out some guy's kneecaps every time he looks at you sideways. You are without a doubt the sweetest person I've ever met. Every stranger you meet is a friend you don't know yet. And I love that about you. I absolutely love that. And I know you can take care of yourself, and I know stuff like that… Like Rick trying to make a move on you, or throwing a slushie in your face doesn't bother you. You can pick up and move on, but if I didn't do anything… It would feel like I wasn't taking care of you. And that's what we do right? We take care of each other, because we love each other. And if this had happened to me, your plan of revenge would have been a lot more clever, and it would have hit him as he witnessed the birth of his first child or something. But, I work with what I've got, and what I had was access to the school's basement, about 35 bags of ice, an iron, and three feet of tape. So, I had to get creative. So, that's why."

Now it was Santana's turn to pout, she crossed her arms, and leaned back in her chair, brushing the tears away from her eyes. Brittany sat for a moment, then stood, and walked over to Santana's chair, kneeling down and putting her hands on the other girl's legs.

"Santana, I love that you want to look out for me. And though, sometimes, your methods are unconventional, I still love that you want to protect me. Because I love you. Okay?"

Santana looked up to meet Brittnay's eyes.

"Okay."

"Where'd you get all that slushie?"

Santana laughed. "I bribed the janitor $50 bucks to bring it in for me during second period. And so he'd have a bit more incentive to get it cleaned up before Figgins got wind of it. And so he'd get rid of all the ice. And , there was a lot of hair…"

"It's okay, San. I get the picture." Brittany patted Santana's leg and moved back to her chair as the food finally arrived.

They ate for a few more minutes in silence before Brittany spoke up again.

"But wait, when did you.."

"Ah, you already used up your questions."

Brittany pouted for a moment before the smile found it's way back to her lips.

"Fine." She twirled a bite of chicken around on her fork for a few moments. "How's the pasta primavera? Better than Breadstix?"

Santana was smiling again when she looked at Brittany. "Not even close."

Brittany laughed and slid her foot up Santana's leg, causing the brunette to drop her fork, leaving it clattering on the plate.

"Maybe you can bring that book over, and read me some more about the lions and the wolves, and stuff."

"Really?"

"Sure, and then you can quiz me when we finish."

Santana's face heated a bit.

"Uh, sure, Britt, I think we can do that."

* * *

Author's Note: So, this is in response to the Anon review about Mercedes pulling Sam into the bathroom. YES! Lol, I just realized I did that in both stories. I don't know why I think it's hilarious, but I do, and also do it at every opportunity. I guess the idea of Sam just being super uncomfortable while all the ladies mill about just brings me so much joy. I wrote these stories about a year apart, so "Sam getting pulled into the women's bathroom" trope is just always sitting in the back of my mind apparently, ready to strike. Thanks for the review!


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